Trinity Frozen foods to invest in Sweet Potato Factory

Trinity Frozen Foods, a new company that makes sweet potato products, announced Thursday that it will bring its operations to Robeson County, North Carolina and create 149 jobs.

The company plans to invest more than $15 million in the next three years in Pembroke, said Gov. Pat McCrory, who was at Mariani' s Restaurant on Thursday to help make the announcement.

The company already has begun to upgrade the former Comark plant on Deep Branch Road. Comark had been used to manufacture commercial buildings and homes. Trinity will turn the plant into a 150,000-square-foot sweet potato processing facility, said Jere Null, Trinity's president and chief executive officer.

Trinity Frozen Foods, based in Charlotte, has been temporarily processing North Carolina-grown sweet potato fries at a site in Canada. Its brands include Sweet Sensations and Frizzles, which are available for food service industries and at retail markets.

Null said the plant is scheduled to open July 1. It will initially employ 60 people and grow to 149 within three years. Total payroll for the new jobs is estimated at $3.5 million, plus benefits.

Unemployment in Robeson County was nearly 13 percent in February, one of the highest rates in the state.

The plant is expected initially to produce 12 million to 15 million pounds of sweet potato fries annually, McCrory said. It eventually will expand to produce 50 million pounds of fries each year.